Marfil, Princess - Addictions Counsellor

From What can you do with a degree in psychology?

Contents 1 Job Title 2 General Overview 3 Job Duties and Responsibilities 4 Typical Workday 5 Education Requirements and Other Qualifications 6 Related Skills, Interests and Abilities

Job Title

Addictions Counsellor

General Overview

Addictions Counsellors provide support to families, individuals and groups who are or have been affected by behavioural or chemical addictions. Addictions Counsellors have an understanding of the addictive process (drug and alcohol addictions) and apply their expertise to helping families, individual and communities overcome addictions through treatment and prevention programs. They provide educational and confidential addictions counselling to individuals. In some cases, Addictions Counsellors will refer individuals to other professionals like doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists or social workers for further cognitive, behavior and medical help. They also promote the benefits of acquiring healthy lifestyles and the advantages of making healthy choices.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities/Duties are listed below but are not limited to:

• Meet clients to evaluate their substance problem
• Work with the client to identify issues to create treatment and goal plans
• Help clients reestablish their lives in order to find employment (or maintain their careers)
• Teach clients coping mechanisms and conflict resolution
• Provide confidential support, education and counseling to clients
• Provide immediate counselling, grounding and de-escalation for clients in crises
• Provide community education and support programs
• Travel to and from the office to meet clients at their homes
• Provide treatment referrals/work with treatment program coordinators for specific clients

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Typical Workday

A typical work day may require an Addictions Counsellor to move throughout the community in their your own vehicle in this field is an asset. Clients’ health condition exposes an Addictions Counsellor to unsanitary conditions and illness due to lack of personal care from the client. The office will be fast-paced and busy depending on the rate of scheduled and unscheduled clients that day. In the most extreme cases, an Addictions Counsellor may find themselves in high stressful situations when dealing and de-escalating an immediate crisis (e.g., witnessing a client overdose, mentally unstable clients, and high suicide risk clients). A typical workday can initiate a high level of stress for the Addictions Counsellor worker as crises are unpredictable, and their severity varies from client to client. ^[2][3]

Addictions Counsellor during a typical workday manage and organize the case files of their clients making sure that they are in contact with appropriate third-party services, doctors or clinicians. A typical workday consists of 6 or more clients to counsel and Addictions Counsellors also facilitate group sessions. Individual sessions require the Addictions Counsellor to identify the history of addiction, they work with the client to develop coping skills and make recommendations on a plan of action. In group sessions, Addictions Counsellors are in charge of facilitating conversation within the group and encourage group therapy. ^[4]

Education Requirements and Other Qualifications

A Bachelor’s Degree or Master of Arts Degree is highly recommended and must be attained from a recognized university in Canada. After postsecondary school, you can acquire a diploma or certificate specializing in Addictions Counselling in order to be employed in the field. These certification programs are offered at McMaster University (Addiction Certificate and Diploma Programs), Nova Scotia Community College (Addictions Community Outreach), Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (Addiction Counselling), triOS College (Addiction Worker Diploma) and Centennial College (Addiction Studies Certificate Program) just to name a few. A full list of schools in Canada can be found on http://www.caccf.ca/a_resources.html. Upon completion of a college or university level post-graduate study specializing in addictions you can apply to become apply to be an International Certified Alcohol and Drug Counsellor (ICADC) through the Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation. You must have an equivalent of 6000 hours of work (3 years full-time) from the last 5 years of employment and have provided supervised counselling services to people who are medically diagnosed with a drug or alcohol addiction problem. ^[5]

You must also have 270 documented hours of education in knowledge and skills area of Addictions Counselling. When an individual meets these requirements, you must then pass a written examination based on the “Twelve Core Function” areas in addiction studies. With this, you must submit a Portfolio Application that clearly outlines employment (paid) experience, education and supervised clinical training. You must also include a signed Canon of Ethics accompanied by an application fee. Recertification is a must every two years to remain an ICADC. More information can be found on http://www.caccf.ca/a_certification_icadc.html.^[6][7]

Related Skills, Interests and Abilities

Other relevant skills, interests and abilities are listed below but are not limited to:

• Needs and Risk Assessment
• Knowing/understanding the impact of trauma
• Case management/confidential record-keeping
• Understand the causes/effects of drugs
• Emergency response skills
• Effective counselling, verbal, communication and listening skills

The skills listed above are crucial in the proper and correct formulation of case studies. With adequate understanding of addictions, it is the only way an Addictions Counsellor can thoroughly communicate with other health care professionals. The skills above are performed by Addictions Counsellors on a daily basis and it truly prepares them to handle situations that are our of their control, unexpected and highly stressful. For example, effective counselling, verbal, communication and listening skills is a significant factor in developing counsellor-client relationships. It allows Addictions Counsellors to truly bond with their clients on an emotional level. ^[8][9][10]

These are some of the personal attributes that an Addictions Counsellor should have, but are not limited to:

• Respectful of others’ situations and background
• Cultural awareness and sensitivity
• Excellent self-care skills
• Empathy
• Logical Thinker
• Problem-Solving
• Time-management
• Resilient
• Organized

Without these basic personal attributes listed above, Addictions Counsellors may find themselves struggling with being able to empathize at their maximum for their clients. They must have the ability to adapt their problem-solving skills to fit the need of the clients and immediate situation. Time management is a big skills to master because Addictions Counsellors may be asked to commute from several centre locations within their region while seeing regular and new clients. They need to be able to schedule accordingly in order meet the needs and fulfill time requests from clients. ^[11][12][13]